New washers and dryers are coming to Notre Dame’s 32 residence halls this fall. In his administration’s farewell email on April 1, former student body president Dawson Kiser announced upgrades would soon be coming to each dorm's laundry facilities.
“We've heard you, and have been working closely with Residential Life regarding laundry throughout our term and are HYPED to share that there will be changes, including brand new washers and dryers for every residence hall next fall!” Kiser wrote in his email.
In a written statement to The Observer, Kiser confirmed that "in advance of the fall 2025 semester, every residence hall will have all of its machines replaced with brand-new, industry-standard, higher-quality washers and dryers from a new vendor."
Laundry has been a contentious issue among on-campus residents at Notre Dame this year (and in years past). Students expressed to The Observer that machines frequently break down or are not functioning properly, necessitating that large numbers of people share just a few washers and dryers while the rest are out of order.
Felix Ruda, a freshman living in Siegfried Hall, noted his frustration with the washing machines in Siegfried.
“Out of the five that are in use, at least two or three just totally drench your clothes,” he said, turning laundry into an hours-long endeavor for him.
“I’ve had to put them through multiple rinse cycles and then dry them in the dryer probably three or four times, so I’ve had at least a couple weekend afternoons just totally wiped out by that,” Ruda said.
Jacqueline Berner, a freshman living in Welsh Family Hall, one of the largest female dorms on campus, said she believes some dorms should have more laundry machines than they currently do.
“Laundry can be really difficult because there’s not enough washers and dryers allocated to how many students there are in some of the bigger dorms,” she said. “In Welsh Fam, there [are] a lot more students than there are in Badin, but we have the same [or] very similar amounts of washers and dryers.”
Berner shared similar sentiments to Ruda about the functionality of the machines.
“I’ve put my laundry in, and then it’s [gotten] soaked, and [I] can’t get it to dry,” she said.
Additionally, Berner was dissatisfied with the wait time for repairs from WASH Laundry, the service that responds to work orders for broken machines in residence halls. Machines in Welsh Family Hall often break again shortly after being fixed, a process which can take multiple days each time a service request is filed.
Both Ruda and Berner expressed their excitement for the upcoming changes.
“I do think [new machines] are necessary,” Ruda said.
Kiser shared in his email to The Observer that he and his administration brought concerns regarding dorm laundry facilities to Residential Life following negative feedback on campus laundry in the Student Life Survey they had sent to the student body.
"Residential Life emphasized that this upgrade was greatly supported by the data we gathered through the Student Life Survey and our advocacy and partnership throughout the year," Kiser wrote.
According to Kiser, Notre Dame will not be continuing to use the same laundry vendor next year and Residential Life has instead issued a Request for Proposal to potential vendors detailing their service requirements. Kiser and his administration remain stakeholders in this process.
Kiser and his administration's efforts were supported by Grace DeCroix, director of university policy for student government, as well as Danielle Arno and Mason McCart, co-directors of student life.
In an email to The Observer, Chris Labadie, Notre Dame’s program coordinator for Residential Facilities, said he could not yet offer specific details regarding the coming changes.
“We have been working closely this semester with our laundry partners, hall staff, and student government to improve the student laundry experience. Exact details of what steps will be taken will be announced in due course,” Labadie wrote.
Editor's note: this story was updated Sunday, April 13 to include the written statement from Dawson Kiser.
